Heritage Tourism
How is heritage significance assessed?
Heritage professionals have developed ways of formally assessing the significance of natural and cultural heritage places. The following documents. listed in the Resources section of the guide, may provide some assistance:
Natural Heritage Places - A handbook for conservation: Implementing the Australian Natural
Heritage Charter for conservation of places of natural significance, 1998, Lorraine Cairnes,
Australian Heritage Commission in association with the Australian Committee for IUCN.
Draft Guidelines for the Protection, Management and
Use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural
Heritage Places, 1997, Department of
Communications and the Arts.
‘Guidelines to the Burra Charter’ (cultural heritage significance) in The Illustrated Burra Charter:
Making good decisions about the care of important places, 1992, prepared by Australia ICOMOS.
Unit 3
The general steps involved in a heritage significance assessment are outlined in these documents and described briefly below.
Step 1 Describe the place
Compile the information that you have gathered and organise it according to individual places. If assessing a very large area or a place with a number of different types of values, you may need to look at elements such as natural, indigenous or historic features separately, and then bring them together at the end to tell the story of the place.
Step 2 Consider the significance of the place
There are many perspectives and views in considering the significant values of a place. For instance, some indigenous communities may wish to define the significance of a place very broadly.
Methodologies for assessing significant values constitute a rapidly evolving set of ideas. The following categories and questions are a guide to considering significance.
Why is this place important?
The following definitions of social, aesthetic, historic and scientific values are from the
Australia ICOMOS
Heritage professionals have developed ways of formally assessing the significance of natural and cultural heritage places. The following documents. listed in the Resources section of the guide, may provide some assistance:
Natural Heritage Places - A handbook for conservation: Implementing the Australian Natural
Heritage Charter for conservation of places of natural significance, 1998, Lorraine Cairnes,
Australian Heritage Commission in association with the Australian Committee for IUCN.
Draft Guidelines for the Protection, Management and
Use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural
Heritage Places, 1997, Department of
Communications and the Arts.
‘Guidelines to the Burra Charter’ (cultural heritage significance) in The Illustrated Burra Charter:
Making good decisions about the care of important places, 1992, prepared by Australia ICOMOS.
Unit 3
The general steps involved in a heritage significance assessment are outlined in these documents and described briefly below.
Step 1 Describe the place
Compile the information that you have gathered and organise it according to individual places. If assessing a very large area or a place with a number of different types of values, you may need to look at elements such as natural, indigenous or historic features separately, and then bring them together at the end to tell the story of the place.
Step 2 Consider the significance of the place
There are many perspectives and views in considering the significant values of a place. For instance, some indigenous communities may wish to define the significance of a place very broadly.
Methodologies for assessing significant values constitute a rapidly evolving set of ideas. The following categories and questions are a guide to considering significance.
Why is this place important?
The following definitions of social, aesthetic, historic and scientific values are from the
Australia ICOMOS